


Growing Up Mafia

by proletaricat



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Assassin Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Canonical Character Death - Anime Only, Check inside for more information, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Crimes & Criminals, Dad!Erwin, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, First Love, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Growing Up, Guns, Hanji/Eren BroTP, Kid Fic, M/M, NO PEDOPHILIA AT ALL, No Manga Spoilers, Organized Crime, Orphan Eren Yeager, POV First Person, POV Third Person, Rating will change, Russian Mafia, SERIOUSLY NO PEDOPHILIA NOT BEING SARCASTIC, Slow Burn, Slurs, Tags May Change, eventual graphic violence, eventual off-screen murder, kid!Eren, long fic, toys named after cereals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-07-16 00:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7244149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/proletaricat/pseuds/proletaricat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren - orphaned at 6, foster child, and then (accidentally) found by Levi and adopted by Erwin. A story of Eren growing up and exploring the world around him, forming close relationships, learning about himself, and being surrounded by a new family and love. Character development, personality formation, and experiencing deep pain (and even deeper love). </p><p>Levi - bitter, conflicted, hurt, and awkward, finding the light (and eventually, the love) of his life, helping him to work through his past pain, bringing him into the present and giving him a future full of hope.</p><p>Erwin - gets to be a daddy!</p><p>A story of romance, drama, jealousy, danger, cuddling, and humor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> Yo, brohams. I've edited this chapter for consistency and grammar, because yolo I never edit anything before posting it anymore. Also some disclaimers.
> 
> 1) This thing is precious to me so updating will be unpredictable, possibly with long breaks between chapters.
> 
> 2) The relationship part of this doesn't come into play until way way later, once Eren is of legal age, and Levi's attraction to Eren begins around that point too. No funny stuff in this thing. Well, I mean, I'm hilarious so tons of comedy, but you know.
> 
> 3) This story is told from Eren's point of view; there are moments where there's a... breaking of the 4th wall? where Eren narrates, and then it goes back into the 3rd person storytelling. There won't be a lot of switching between POVs but I just wanted to note this in case it's confusing.  
> 4) I don't know shit about Russia or the Russian mafia.  
> 5) I also have nobody in my family under 22 so I have no idea about kids and developmental stages, so I'm working purely on what I can find on the Internet and what my sister (long-time nanny) tells me about kids... so it's probably very unrealistic at some points. If you'd like to leave a note pointing out things that are super inaccurate, let me know.  
> 6) That's a lot of notes but I feel like they are necessary, I might add more in the future because this isn't completely written yet.

I was six when my parents died in a car accident. It was the worst day of my life. I can still hear the crunch of metal and screams of my mother when I close my eyes at night, I can still smell the metallic tang of blood, scent so heavy in the air I could taste it. I can still feel the searing pain of shattered glass and twisted metal embedded in my skin. In a way, though, if I try to find the positives in the situation, it was possibly the best day of my life, too. Don’t get me wrong, I’d do anything to have my parents back. But in the end, things turned out pretty well. I’m happy with my life now. Really happy. I wouldn’t have met the love of my life – grumpy asshole that he is – if it wasn’t for that accident. I wouldn’t have met my two best friends in the entire world, and have such a huge extended family. It was difficult for a long time, but in the end… yeah, I’m okay with how things turned out. I suppose I should start at the beginning, though? I’ll spare you the gory details of the car crash, let’s just say – it was horrific and the following weeks were the worst.

I was a 6-year-old finding myself suddenly with no family, no friends, nothing. I packed a suitcase full of the most important things to me – pictures, the pink cat plushie my mom got me for my 5th birthday (pink was my favorite color at the time, okay? Don’t judge me), that old skeleton key that my dad kept… it was for the basement of the house, he said something about it being a surprise for when I was older. I never did find out what was down there. But I had the pictures, the cat plush, the key (I wear it on a chain now), some clothes, my mom’s favorite scarf, a bottle of her perfume, one of my dad’s shirts, and a few other things. It all fit neatly in one small suitcase, and that was it. That’s all I had of my old life, and I was shuffled from home to home, miserable and withdrawn. I think that’s where I’ll start the story.

x

Eren was a frequent run-away. The foster homes he was sent off to weren’t great, and he was a troublesome child – which was understandable, considering what he had gone through, but still – a six-year-old needed stability and warmth after something like that, and it wasn’t found in foster families full of too many kids. Sometimes he would stay for a few weeks, sometimes a few months, and he’d gone through about 4 when he met the person who would change his life forever.

He was hiding in the park, clutching his cat plushie to his chest, burying his face in its soft fur. The other boys in his most recent home teased him all the time. ‘Mama’s boy’, and making fun of him for keeping and sleeping with Froot Loops clutched in his arms. Not the cereal, his pink cat plushie was named Froot Loops after the cereal that had been his favorite at the time. When he got really sad, he had Froot Loops to comfort him, and the memory of the day he’d gotten her (Froot Loops was a girl, of course). Sometimes, when he was feeling really lonely, he’d take some of his mom’s perfume and spray it on Froot Loops. When he closed his eyes it was almost like she was there again. He had sprayed the perfume on it this morning and run away from his home and the boys, escaping for a little while. He was leaned against a tree, hidden from the nearby pathway by thick bushes. He held Froot Loops with his face buried in her fur, trying to hold back the tears. He missed home _so much_ , he wished he could be back in his mom’s arms, he wished he could be playing catch with his papa in the yard, he wished he had died with them so he could be in heaven too, never separated from them. He couldn’t stop the tears from falling this time, silent sobs wracking his body, squeezing the toy against his chest, curled up around it, begging the universe to wake him up, it had to be just a nightmare, he just wanted it to _stop_.

He was so wrapped up in his misery that he didn’t notice the hurried, muted footsteps on the grass heading his way. He sure as hell noticed when he felt a shoe collide with one of the more recent bruises he had gotten, the one on his side, and the muffled ‘fuck!’ as the person who had run into him tripped. Froot Loops had gotten kicked out of his arms accidentally, lying in the dirt a few feet away. Eren’s breath hitched, ignoring the man who had basically kicked him in the side, crawling over to Froot Loops and trying to brush the dirt off the toy. The tears came back to him and he glared over at the man.

“Look wh-what you d-did!” he tried to yell through his tears, words barely understandable through the hiccupping sobs.

The man looked at Eren in alarm, unsure what to do. “Shut up, kid,” he hissed, moving closer and pressing a hand against the boy’s mouth to quiet him. He didn’t expect the vicious bite that nearly drew blood. How the fuck was a kid’s jaw so strong? The man yelped, pulling his hand away. Kid germs, fucking disgusting. Levi didn’t even want to think about what kind of disease he had probably contracted from the bite.

“What the fuck is your problem?!”

Eren curled up on his toy, still trying to pick the dirt out of her fur. “Y-you got F-froot Loops all dirty,” he wailed. “She’s not supposed to get dirty! M-mom isn’t here to clean her, now what do I do!” he was distraught, ignoring the man’s frantic attempts to get him to shut up. The man heard heavy footsteps, following the same path he had taken, and he swore below his breath. He snapped to attention when his pursuer caught up to them, glaring.

“Levi, you can’t just _run away_ when I’m trying to—what happened?” the new man asked, frowning. He was much taller than the person called Levi; he looked kind of like that superhero Captain America. Eren sniffled, hugging his toy and looking up at the man, then back to Levi, and back to the man.

“A-are you Captain America?” he questioned, voice still obstructed by tearful hiccups.

Levi barked out a laugh, and Eren turned his watery glare onto the man. “Cuz—cuz this guy is a bad guy,” Eren said loudly, angrily. “He got Froot Loops dirty! Froot Loops can’t get dirty ‘cuz mom can’t clean her!”

“He was just fucking sitting there, Erwin, I ran into him, it was an accident,” Levi growled. “I’m not a _bad guy_ , you brat. You shouldn’t be fucking sitting in the middle of the park behind some goddamn bushes!”

Erwin stepped forward, sighing. “Levi, enough.” He crouched down to Eren, reaching out to thumb away the boy’s tears. “Why are you hiding here?” he questioned, voice soft. Eren sniffled, curling in on himself.

“The boys at the house won’t stop teasing me,” he whispered. “I don’t like them, they hurt me and c-call me names, they try to hurt Froot Loops.”

“Is Froot Loops your kitty?” Erwin asked, reaching out to pet the toy cat’s nose gently. Eren frowned, nodding.

“One of them tried to cut off her tail,” he whined, picking the tail up and showing Erwin the shallow cut and the missing fur. “But I got her in time.”

Levi rolled his eyes. “Can we go?” he asked impatiently. Erwin shot him a glare before turning his attention back to the boy.

“Why don’t you tell your parents about the boys?” the man asked, stroking the spot where Froot Loops’ tail was nearly severed. He didn’t anticipate the fresh round of tears that the question brought forth and was taken aback for a moment as Eren started wailing again.

“Th-th-they’re dead!” he yelled, clutching Froot Loops so tightly his knuckles turned white. “They’re dead and they’re never coming back and now I don’t have a home, I only have F-Froot Loops, and the-the boys are so _m-mean_ ,” he cried, grabbing a handful of grass and viciously ripping it out of the ground. “I wish I was dead with my parents,” he whispered, staring despairingly at the ground. Erwin gave Levi a panicked look and Levi just grimaced and shrugged.

Erwin sighed and sat down next to the boy, pulling Eren against his side. “You shouldn’t wish things like that,” he chided gently. Eren scrunched up his face and gave Erwin an irritated glare.

“You’re not a very good superhero,” he said testily. “Superheroes don’t tell kids what to do like that.” Eren glowered, looking away but not pulling away from the warmth of Erwin’s side. Erwin laughed quietly.

“You’re right, I’m not a very good superhero. I’m not actually a superhero at all. Just a human like you,” he said, large hand running through the boy’s hair. “We should get you home, though. I’m sure—”

“No!” Eren yelled, ripping himself away from Erwin, giving the man a panicked look. “I don’t want to go back, I never want to go back, they hurt me, I wish I could run away forever, I know you’re not a superhero but please don’t make me go back,” he begged, breath hitching in terror. Erwin held up his hands in a placating gesture.

“All right, all right. We won’t make you go home.”

Eren scrutinized Erwin’s expression, his own face painted with a frown, and then looked up at Levi who was still standing there, arms crossed, a cross look on his face. “Who are you?” Eren questioned suddenly.

Levi raised an eyebrow, exchanging a look with Erwin before turning his attention back on the boy. “I’m Levi,” he snapped in response. “I want to go, Erwin, just take the boy back home and let’s go.”

Eren glared, picking up a handful of grass and throwing it at Levi. “No!” he yelled. “I’m not going back! You can’t make me!”

Levi growled, taking a step forward. “I sure as hell _can_ make you, you little brat.”

Erwin rolled his eyes at the exchange, Eren pouting up at Levi and Levi glaring down at Eren.

“Levi, _he_ has an excuse because he’s actually a child, but you’re an adult and should have more self-control.”

The dark-haired man grunted, turning away. Erwin tapped Eren’s shoulder, getting the boy’s attention again. “What’s your name?” he asked. The boy gave Erwin a calculating look. His mom said not to trust strangers… but his mom wasn’t here anymore, and any strangers had to be better than the people he lived with now.

“Eren,” he said quietly. “My name is Eren Jaeger and I’m six years old.”

Erwin smiled. “My name is Erwin Smith and I’m thirty-four years old,” he responded. Eren gave the man a look of disbelief.

“You’re _old_ ,” he said, shocked. Levi snorted, trying to stifle a laugh unsuccessfully. Erwin shot Levi a glare before returning his attention to Eren.

“I suppose compared to you I am quite old,” he responded, before looking up at Levi. “Your turn,” he said with a smirk. Eren pinned Levi with an intrigued look, and Levi frowned down at the boy. He rolled his eyes and turned away again.

“I’m not playing this game,” he said dismissively.

Eren wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Why’s he so cranky?” he asked Erwin. “He needs a time-out so he learns not to be so mean.”

Erwin choked on a laugh and tossed his head back. “Yeah, maybe I should put him in time-out,” he said with a grin. Levi whipped back to stare at the older man.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” he growled.

Eren tutted, giving Levi a reprimanding look. “You said a naughty word, that’s more time in the time-out,” he scolded. Levi gave the boy an incredulous look.

“Fuck off, you little brat,” he shot back.

Eren’s frown grew deeper. “That’s two more minutes in time-out. You shouldn’t be so naughty, naughty boys don’t get presents for Christmas.”

Levi groaned in exasperation, Erwin’s shoulders shaking with laughter.

“He’s right, Levi,” the man played along. “You should be a good boy and apologize, I’ll put you in time-out later.”

Eren gave the dark-haired man a triumphant look, turning to pat Erwin’s knee approvingly. “Good job,” he said, nodding. “Are you a daddy?” he questioned suddenly, cocking his head. “You should be a daddy, you’re good at it,” Eren nodded, agreeing with himself.

Erwin smiled, hugging Eren. “I’m not, but I’ve always wanted to be,” the blond admitted.

Eren was silent for a few moments, looking at the ground thoughtfully. “You should be my daddy,” he mumbled, hugging Froot Loops close again. “You’re nice, and you probably wouldn’t hit me, right?” he questioned, giving Erwin a concerned look. “You wouldn’t hit me like the other people do?”

“You’re being abused?” Erwin questioned, eyes narrowing. Eren shrunk in on himself, mistaking the angry look in Erwin’s eyes as being directed it at him.

“S-sorry, th-they told me I shouldn’t talk about it. Please don’t t-tell them,” he begged.

Erwin shook his head, petting Eren’s back soothingly. “No, no, you didn’t do anything wrong, Eren. They shouldn’t be hitting you, that’s not right.”

“So be my daddy, then,” Eren said stubbornly. “And take me away from them, and then Froot Loops and me can live with you. I bet you’ve got a nice house. You got nice shoes,” he said, pointing them out. “They’re all shiny.”

Erwin sighed, petting Eren’s hair again. “It doesn’t work like that, Eren, I can’t just take you away and be your new family.”

He regretted his words instantly as they brought more tears to Eren’s expressive eyes. Even Levi looked distressed seeing the boy so sad. “Nobody wants me,” Eren’s voice was dejected and he pulled away, frowning down at Froot Loops and trying to pick the dirt from her fur again.

Eren’s head snapped up suddenly, eyes widening upon hearing a familiar voice yelling his name.

“Eren? Eren!! Where are you, Eren! You can’t run away, Eren! I know you’re here!” the angry voice shouted.

Eren scrambled to hide himself in Erwin’s arms, breath coming in panicked gasps. “Hide me,” he whispered, ducking down.

A woman came around the bend of the pathway, spotting Eren and rolling her eyes, walking up to the two men. She gave the men a distrustful glare. “What are you doing all alone with a little boy hidden like this?” she asked accusingly.

“We found him fucking crying, you expect us to leave him here like that?” Levi responded, pissed off at the woman’s insinuation. “You got something to do with that?” he took a step toward her, eyebrow raised. “What about those bruises, huh? You got something to do with those, too? Fucking scum,” he hissed.

Erwin stood, patting Eren’s head. “Stay here,” he said quietly before moving to stand next to Levi.

“The bruises are quite concerning; do you know what caused them?”

The woman gave the two men an aggravated look, moving around them to grab Eren. She had just wrapped her arms around the boy’s wrist when Levi grabbed hers, digging his nails into it. “Don’t fucking touch him,” the dark-haired man growled. The woman looked alarmed, letting go and stepping back.

“He’s my charge, and it’s time for him to _go home_ ,” she argued, gesturing to Eren. “He’s supposed to be grounded and he comes out here. I’ll deal with you when we get home,” she threatened Eren, turning back toward Levi and Erwin. “You’d better leave before I call the police on you two perverts.”

Erwin raised an eyebrow and Levi smirked. “By all means,” Erwin said. “Call the police. Ah, would you mind ringing up CPS while you’re at it? I’d like to report child abuse.”

The blond glanced behind him and frowned at how Eren was trembling, watching with terrified, wide eyes, tears clinging to the boy’s lashes. Erwin gave Levi a look and the dark-haired man sighed, walking back to Eren. Eren shrunk away from Levi nervously. The man just rolled his eyes, tugging Eren against his side and running fingers through the brat’s hair. Eren looked up at Levi, concerned.

“Just because you’re a fucking annoying brat doesn’t mean you should be treated like that,” he said, not looking at Eren. Eren chewed his lower lip before pressing closer to Levi. If he was with Erwin then he must not be so bad, Eren reasoned, so letting the man play with his hair should be okay. Levi made him feel safe just like the other man did. Eren buried his face in Levi’s side, clinging to him with Froot Loops squished between both of them. Levi tutted, pulling Eren back a little. “You’re crushing your cat,” he said, picking it up from where it is. Eren looked up, scared.

“Give her back!” he hissed.

Levi huffed, ignoring Eren and running fingers through her fur. “I can clean this off if you want,” he offered, side-eyeing the boy. “Since I got her dirty and all,” he finished with a shrug. He passed the toy back to Eren who hugged her tight again, twisting his body so this time Froot Loops wasn’t crushed between them but he was still pressed against the older man.

“Yeah, okay,” Eren said quietly. “If I’m not grounded again,” he looked down at the ground with a heavy sigh.

Levi patted Eren on the head. “Erwin’s not going to let you go back there for good, so don’t worry about it.”

“But he said he didn’t want me,” Eren responded with a pout.

“He didn’t say that, you brat, he just said it’s not so easy,” Levi grumbled. “There’s like, paperwork and government shit you have to do,” he waved his hand in the air.

Eren looked up at Levi, shaking his head again. “You shouldn’t say bad words like that,” he reprimanded, brow furrowed. Levi just rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, whatever kid.”

“So… so he’s gonna keep me?” Eren asked hopefully after a few moments. They both looked over and watched the woman and Erwin exchanging words, the woman holding a phone up to her ear and (presumably) calling the police.

“I dunno, kid. He doesn’t exactly live somewhere safe for a brat like you.”

Eren smiled up at Levi cheerfully. “It’s okay, I’m a good boy. I once lived outside for a whole three days, I can handle anything.”

Levi gave Eren a disturbed look. “Three days? How did you—camping or something?”

Eren shook his head, grin wide. “Nope! The last home, the dad hurt me real bad, I still got the owie from it, I can show you later, and so I got my stuff and I left. I got found later and they brought me to the place I’m at now. It’s better than before, but…” he sighed heavily.

Levi had as horrified an expression as possible on his face considering his normal stoic look. He pushed away the memories of his past as Eren’s confession brought them to the surface of his consciousness, and shook his head. The dark-haired man hugged Eren closer. “I’m kinda glad I knocked you over, kid,” he muttered. Eren hummed, closing his eyes and leaning against Levi.

“Just don’t let them take me away,” he said quietly, tired from all the crying.

“Don’t worry, brat. Erwin’ll take care of everything.”

x

True to Levi’s word, Erwin did take care of everything. A few confrontations, court dates, classes, and a lot of paperwork later, my position in Erwin and Levi’s life became permanent – just in time for the my 7th birthday, too. Levi was actually kind of shocked at how quickly everything had gone, but it was probably due to Erwin’s… special influence. That’s the beginning of the story, how I met my new dad and the grumpy, dark-haired little munchkin for the first time. Levi did end up cleaning Froot Loops up, just as good as mom ever did. I think that’s the reason I started to trust Levi. I can’t begrudge the dude for his freaky cleaning OCD perfectionism shit because it helped make Froot Loops good as new, and that meant a hell of a lot to 7-year-old me.


	2. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren is seven, dealing with his grief, and growing closer to those around him. Also, they have a tea party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I've edited this for grammar and continuity stuff. For some reason I wrote that Eren was 8 in like 2 different places, instead of the 7 that he's supposed to be in this.
> 
> 3) This fic is very, very important to me and special, I guess. So the wait between updates will be erratic - sometimes longer periods of time when I am working on plot, characterization, and making sure everything fits - and sometimes shorter, when I'm inspired and have had time to work on it. I literally have an incredibly complicated file with macros, collapsible headers and sub-headings, clickable in-document links, all consisting of notes, floorplans (don't judge me!), et cetera. SO. It's complicated. Please be patient with me. Encouragement also helps.
> 
> 4) Because I love this fic and it's important to me if you notice anything off (spelling, grammar, continuity errors, plot holes, etc.) please let me know I actually really like constructive critique okay seriously thank you love you forever.
> 
> Thank you for sticking with me. :)

It had only been two months into his new life with Erwin and Eren had already begun to feel at home. He had to change schools again, though, but that wasn’t anything new. He had changed schools multiple times in his experience with the foster homes, even though they were supposed to keep him in the same school district so his life would be as stable as possible. Eren liked the new school, though. They got to wear a fancy uniform and it made Eren feel like a big boy. He still missed his mom and papa real bad, and acted out in school sometimes, but overall Eren was adjusting remarkably well for someone in his situation. He had a nice big room, with a big bed, and comfortable sheets. It was mostly just Eren and Erwin, but Levi came by regularly and slowly Eren was introduced to a bunch of other people that would soon become his new family.

Hanji was his crazy aunt and the best person to play make-believe with, and she read the books best because she made all the funny voices, just like papa used to do. Eren _really_ liked Petra, too, she reminded him of his mom a lot. Most of the time that was nice, but occasionally it was too much for him – Petra understood, though, she was so nice. Mike… Mike was also really good at playing make-believe and he made the best peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, to the point where Eren wouldn’t eat anyone else’s. Gunther was… okay. He didn’t really interact with Eren that much, but he was never mean or anything.

Auruo… he was annoying. Eren and Auruo didn’t get along very well, but Auruo was never _mean_. Just irritating. Like some of the bigger boys at school who acted like they were tough and cool but really they weren’t anything special. Eren didn’t like the way Auruo treated Petra, but Petra never seemed to mind, so Eren supposed it was fine.

Eren really liked Eld. He was quiet and gentle, kind of serious like Levi, but still very nice. He helped Eren whenever Eren asked, and sometimes brought Eren little gifts, like candies or small animal figurines.

But Levi. Levi was special. Levi was Eren’s favorite, and even though Levi acted like he didn’t like Eren, Eren knew the older man secretly did. The irritated huffs when Eren hugged him were counteracted by the gentle fingers stroking through his hair and Levi always made it a point to contradict Erwin’s orders of “no treats for him, Levi, I’m serious. He’s already had enough today” whenever the man was tasked with babysitting the boy. As soon as Erwin was out of earshot Levi turned to smirk at Eren. “You want some ice cream, kid?” or “where does Erwin keep the chocolate?” (because he knew Eren was very observant, and he knew Erwin had a thing for chocolate).

Today was another day where his new family had come over, discussing some “adult stuff” in Erwin’s office, so Eren was relegated to his playroom, disgruntled over being ignored. It felt like hours before they were all finished and the blond man came to collect Eren.

“Come on, Eren, let’s go say hello to everyone.”

Eren frowned up at Erwin, standing and grabbing Erwin’s hand to hold it. Erwin squeezed it gently, smiling. “What’s that frown for, hm?”

Eren shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t like it when you ignore me,” he mumbled.

Erwin sighed. “Would you like me to have someone spend time with you next time?”

Eren whipped his head to look at Erwin excitedly. “Yes! I want Levi! Levi’s the best,” the boy said excitedly. Erwin shook his head and laughed.

“I have no idea why you like that man, he’s always so sour, isn’t he?” Erwin teased. They had walked into the kitchen, where most of the people were congregating, Levi leaning against the counter and staring at his phone disinterestedly.

Eren tutted. “Erwin-daddy, you shouldn’t be so mean, Levi is my favorite,” he said, shaking his head.

Levi looked up from his phone at Eren and raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that, kid? You hated me when we first met. You’re quite fickle, aren’t you?” his voice was impassive but Eren knew he was just teasing. The brunet bounced over to Levi, wrapping his arms around the man’s waist in a tight hug, resting his head against his stomach with a happy hum. Levi froze, still taken aback by the easy affection Eren showed him. He patted Eren’s head awkwardly.

“You cleaned up Froot Loops and you always give me treats.”

Erwin raised an eyebrow. “I thought I told you not to do that, Levi.”

Eren snapped his attention to Erwin, glaring as effectively as a cute 7-year-old could. “No time-out for Levi,” he ordered.

Petra laughed quietly, smiling at the young boy. “You’re such a cutie, but isn’t Levi a bit grumpy?”

Eren sighed wearily, shaking his head. “No, you’re wrong,” he said in his teacher-voice. “He only pretends because he wants you to think he’s tough but he’s not, he’s like Froot Loops, fluffy and nice.”

The adults in the room choked in laughter and Levi gave Eren an irritated glare. “No I’m not, I’m an asshole.”

“Language, Levi!”

“I’ll talk however the fuck I want, Eyebrows.”

Eren pouted up at Levi, shaking his head. “You said naughty words so now you have to put money in the swear jar, Levi.”

Levi just stared down at Eren, gaze switching behind Erwin and the boy. “You serious?”

Eren nodded earnestly. “You gotta, it’s the rules.”

“Yeah, why don’t you ever have to put money in?” Levi grumbled, pulling out his wallet and dropping some money into the jar on the counter, rolling his eyes.

“Because I’m a good boy!” Eren chirped, giving Levi’s stomach one more nuzzle before stepping away, grinning up at him. “Are you gonna play with me today, Levi?”

Levi gave the other people in the room an uncomfortable frown, turning his attention back to the boy looking up at him excitedly. “I’m busy today, _myshka_.”

Eren pouted, eyes widening, and Levi groaned, looking up at the ceiling, wiping a hand down his face. Those goddamn green eyes, it wasn’t fair. “I’m serious.”

The boy frowned, looking away sadly. “You never have time for me anymore,” he said, dejected.

“Fu—godda—ugh. Tomorrow, okay? I promise,” Levi turned to give Erwin and the rest of the adults a vicious glare. “One word and I’ll murder you,” he hissed.

Eren smiled, clapping his hands together, consoled by the promise. “Daddy I’m hungry,” he said, turning his pout on Erwin. “Can I have a snack please?”

Erwin started to shake his head but Eren whined. “But I said please and you said when I was polite I got treats,” he put on the pout from before, sniffling and looking down at the floor.

“Oi, don’t try to manipulate Erwin with your crocodile tears.”

The boy turned his attention on Levi, still looking sad and on the verge of tears. The dark-haired man rolled his eyes, addressing Erwin. “If you don’t, I will. Can’t stand that look,” Levi muttered darkly. The blond sighed, going to the fridge.

“All right, Eren, you can have a snack.”

The damn kid certainly knew how to get his way. Just a few months in and he already had them all wrapped around his cute little fingers. “Spoiled brat,” Levi snapped, pushing himself off the counter. “I’m out,” he said to the team, heading to the door.

“ _Leviii_ ,” Eren whined. “You’re forgetting something.”

Levi gritted his teeth, turning back to Eren. “All right, come on, hurry it up.”

Eren pranced over to the man, hugging him again happily. “You’re my favorite,” the boy announced once again. “Make sure you ‘member to come over tomorrow to play!” Levi patted Eren on the head, muttering a quiet ‘whatever’ before pulling away and leaving. Eren knew Levi was just trying to look tough, so he didn’t mind the man’s cold demeanor.

The rest of the day went well for Eren, it passed quickly and the next as well, Levi keeping his promise to come over and play. Erwin had gone out to do errands so Levi gave Eren a smirk and dropped his duffle bag on the ground, a plastic ‘clunk’ sounding out on the wooden floor. Eren’s eyes widened and he looked up to Levi excitedly.

“I brought the video games,” the man said with a conspiratorial grin. Eren squealed in excitement, and they spent the rest of the day playing video games until it was time for Erwin to come back. Levi packed the console up, hiding it away, because Erwin didn’t like when Eren played video games so often. The dark-haired man pressed his finger to his lips, making the universal ‘shhh’ gesture. “You know the rules, right?”

Eren nodded, grinning up at Levi and climbing into the man’s lap, hugging him tight. “Don’t tell daddy ‘cuz we’ll get in time-out.”

“That’s right,” Levi said, shifting to a more comfortable position, still feeling awkward about Eren’s affection but running his fingers down the boy’s back soothingly. He’d allow the boy the comfort; he’d been through so much he probably needed it. The rest of the year went much the same, Levi and Eren growing closer, Eren becoming more comfortable with his situation, and Eren quickly blended in with the team as an honorary (and adorable) member of the group.

Eren made sure to be brave. He missed his parents so much still, but he wanted to be tough and not worry Erwin-daddy and Levi, so he was brave and tried to handle life as well as he could with as little tears as possible. It was still too much, sometimes. The episodes tapered down from a few times a week to once a week to once or twice a month and settled there, some months better than others. Whenever he got too sad, he sprayed his mom’s perfume on Froot Loops and buried his face in her fur, closing his eyes and imagining they were still with him and he was just sleeping, waiting for them to come home, drifting into sleep with his kitty plush hugged tight against him. It wasn’t until a few months after Eren turned eight that Levi noticed the moments of sadness, and the man felt quite stupid for not seeing it sooner. He had thought Eren was adjusting so well, and he was, but still… the fact that Eren shut himself off in his room instead of seeking out comfort kind of broke Levi’s heart. Not that he would _ever_ admit to that. How had he come to care for the kid so much?

The next time Levi noted Eren’s absence during his time at Erwin’s house, he excused himself from the casual meeting in the kitchen, seeking the boy out. He found him in his room, curled up around his cat toy, crying. Levi sighed, pushing the door nearly closed behind him because he knew Eren probably wanted to keep these moments of weakness a secret.

“ _Myshka_ , why are you all alone?”

Eren jumped, looking up at Levi, alarmed. “I—I’m sorry, I’ll be more brave,” he said, rushed, wiping at his tears and sitting up. “I kn-know it’s weak—”

“ _Durachok_ ,” Levi murmured, sitting down on Eren’s bed and pulling the kid against his side. “It’s not weak to cry, you muppet. Of course you’re going to, you miss your parents. Crying is fine, it just shows how much you love them,” he said quietly, understanding the pain of loss all too well. Eren sniffled, hugging Froot Loops close.

“The boys at school say boys shouldn’t cry,” Eren whispered.

“Tch. You gonna believe them or are you gonna believe me? You think they’re smarter than me?” Levi asked, eyebrow raised. Eren looked up at Levi, eyes wide.

“No! No, Levi, ‘fcourse not,” he said, cuddling against the man’s side. “You’re the smartest,” he said tiredly.

“Then listen to me when I say it’s okay.”

“But you don’t cry,” Eren said, petting Froot Loops’ fur gently. Levi was silent for a moment, a little uncomfortable with the comment and what he was about to say.

“Everyone cries, kid. Even me,” he mumbled. “I lost some people close to me too. I still miss them, even though it’s been years since they died. There’s nothing wrong with that, Eren. Stop hiding it when you feel sad, it’s not healthy. If you want a hug or something you’ve gotta ask, got it? And you _should_ ask.”

Eren nodded slowly, tears still dripping down his face and onto Froot Loops’ fur. Levi leaned down, wiping the tears away gently and kissing the top of the boy’s head. “You’ve got a lot of people who care about you and want to help you when you’re sad. Sometimes it’s okay that…” Levi inwardly groaned at the stupid name Eren had given his toy. “It’s fine that sometimes… Froot Loops… isn’t enough.”

Eren nodded, climbing onto Levi’s lap and crying into his chest. Levi ignored the discomfort he felt from the… deep level of affection Eren afforded Levi (and nobody else, besides Erwin. Not even Petra) and rubbed Eren’s back, leaning against the wall. He waited until the boy’s breath evened out before laying him back down, putting Froot Loops down next to the exhausted, sleepy boy. Levi stood and pulled the covers over him. “You’re tired, you should take a nap,” the man said, petting Eren’s head. He was also uncomfortable at how attached to the boy he had become, but he wasn’t about to push Eren away so he had to deal with it. Eren shook his head stubbornly, trying to sit up.

“Don’t go, Levi,” he whined.

Levi sighed and sat down again next to Eren. “I’ll stay until you’re asleep, okay? Then I’ve gotta go.”

Eren paused for a moment then nodded, accepting the compromise. “’Kay,” he said with a small yawn, burrowing into the covers and closing his eyes. He fell asleep quickly, tired from the crying and the grief and feeling comfortable and safe with Levi sitting next to him.

x

Today Eren got to go to the zoo with Erwin-daddy, and he couldn’t have been more excited! He got to visit the tigers and the lions, the penguins, the flamingos, the monkeys, and his favorite – the butterfly exhibit. Eren whined and begged for Levi to come along before they left for the zoo, but Levi was resolute in staying behind.

“I’ve got shi—things to do, _zaichik_. Go with Erwin, I’ll be here when you get back.”

Even Eren’s pouting and puppy-eyes couldn’t get Levi to budge, so Eren decided it was a lost cause and sighed loudly, stomping his way out of the house and to the car. He cheered up quickly, though, barely missing Levi at all as Erwin-daddy (and Petra!) took him all around the zoo. It was dinner time when they get back, and Eren was a hungry and exhausted. The only thing keeping him from throwing a hangry fit was the promise of seeing Levi. They walked into the house, Eren slipping his shoes off and running into the living room where he knew Levi was. He skidded to a stop in front of the man, eyes wide.

Levi looked up at him like a deer in headlights, gun parts, cleaning tools and materials, and multiple (different) type of guns scattered around the coffee table and the couch next to Levi.

Erwin rounded the corner and stared at Levi as well for a long moment. “Why are you… in my house, Levi?! Where Eren can—Eren, go to your room,”

Eren looked up at Erwin with tears in his eyes. “But I didn’t do anything bad, I wanna know what’s going on,” he whined.

Levi shifted nervously, the barrel of a Dragunov SVU sniper rifle held in one hand, a cleaning rod in the other. “I—uhh, I didn’t think you’d be back so soon…” he said slowly. Erwin raised an eyebrow.

“It’s 5:00, Levi,” Erwin barked. He pointed to the stairs. “Seriously, Eren, _go to your room_.”

Eren pouted and shuffled up the stairs, pretending to go to his room but hiding behind the banister to watch what was going on.

“You know I’m under surveillance, Erwin,” Levi hissed, narrowing his eyes. “This is the only place I could do it safely, and I have to clean them.”

“You don’t have to fieldstrip after every session, _Levi_ ,” Erwin growled. “And in the living room? You can do that in the office!” the blond pointed to the closed door of said office.

Levi set the barrel and cleaning rod down on the table, rubbing at his temples. He gave an irritated groan. “The lighting isn’t good enough in there. And it’s not ventilated enough, you _know_ that.”

“I can’t believe this,” Erwin said crossly. “You could’ve at least started earlier!”

Levi glanced down to the side, a number of different guns (and knives) spread out that were hidden from view by the table. “I started right after you left…”

Erwin exhaled sharply. “You didn’t have to do them _all_!”

Levi responded with a glare. “You want me to do the next job or not? They have to be _clean_ , and I don’t know which ones I’ll need because intel’s not back yet.”

Erwin clenched his teeth, looking up to the ceiling and forcing himself to calm down. “You need to finish this somewhere else. Pack it up.”

“I need to finish this one,” Levi said, gesturing to the scattered parts of the sniper rifle he had been working on.

“I can’t believe you,” the blond said venomously. “Eren’s too young to see this.”

“He’s going to find out sooner or later, Eyebrows. Get over it.”

“He’s _seven_ , Levi. Even if he’ll find out about it that’s _years_ too early.”

Levi shrugged. “Nothing wrong with learning early,” he started to re-assemble the sniper rifle, irritated that he hadn’t finished the cleaning. He’d have to do it later. Maybe he could use Petra’s house? Fucking FBI surveillance. Levi packed the other weapons up carefully, turning his attention back to Erwin. “Next time call with a warning or something.”

“How was I supposed to know you were doing this?” the man asked, exasperated, gesturing to the weapons. “And there won’t be a next time! You won’t do this here, at least not in the open where Eren can see!”

Levi groaned, standing. “So inconvenient,” he grumbled, starting to move the weapons to the locker Erwin kept in one of the other locked rooms. “I’ll be able to do it at home in a few months when the cops fuck off, quit whining about it.”

“Goddamnit, I can’t believe you,” Erwin responded, sighing. Once the weapons were gone and out of sight, the blond frowned at Levi. “You’re cooking to make up for this… nonsense.”

Levi frowned. “Whatever,” he stalked to the kitchen, clearly unhappy with the event that had just unfolded.

Erwin started up the stairs to retrieve Eren, who scampered to his room and hid inside, pretending that he hadn’t just watched everything that had happened. Why did Levi have so many guns? Was he a bad guy? And what if the B… FB… IFB? FIB? Eren gave the floor a concerned look, holding Froot Loops and petting her fur. Erwin-daddy said he’d be able to find out what was going on later, but maybe Eren could ask Levi next time Levi babysat for him.

Dinner was tense, and Levi didn’t come by for a few weeks after that night. Eren became more and more upset by the man’s absence, eventually storming into Erwin’s room early in the morning, waking the man up. “Daddy, where is Levi!” the boy demanded. “Are you punishing him for the guns?”

Erwin rubbed his eyes, sighing at the interruption and interrogation. “Eren,” he said, voice scratchy with sleep. “Don’t… don’t worry about the, ah, the guns. He’s not being punished, he’s just busy for a while, he’ll come back,” the man mumbled. “Now go back to bed.”

But Eren couldn’t, he was far too concerned, and so the rest of the day went by with difficulty as Eren acted up, showing Erwin just how upset he was that his Levi hadn’t come by to visit him.

Another week passed before Levi finally came back to Eren’s house, entering the kitchen wearily. He had a bandage around his arm and his hands, looking exhausted. But Eren didn’t care—the second he saw Levi he jumped up from where he was on the couch, squealing in excitement and running over to the man, hugging him tightly.

Levi grunted in pain, grabbing the boy’s shoulders and pushing him away gently. “Hurts, Eren. Be careful,” he said, sinking into a chair and leaning his head back. Eren sniffled and apologized, climbing into Levi’s lap. Levi endured the pain of having Eren sit on one of the bruises on his thigh, wrapping an arm around the boy. “Brat,” he grumbled affectionately.

“You left me,” Eren whined.

“I _know_ Erwin told you I was busy and coming back. Why are you so upset?” Levi asked with a tired sigh.

Eren buried his face in Levi’s neck, wrapping his arms around the man. He sniffled, closing his eyes tightly. “I missed you,” he whined. “Erwin-daddy’s no fun, you’re my favorite, and you were gone for like a year.”

“It was barely a month, _zaichik_. Calm down.” Levi ran his fingers through Eren’s hair, stroking the boy’s back soothingly. He missed the kid too, but he wasn’t about to admit it to the spoiled little shit.

“You make me feel better when I’m sad, though,” Eren whispered. “Only Froot Loops can make me not sad anymore like you can. I got sad and you weren’t here.” Eren pulled back to pout up at Levi, who rolled his eyes.

“Manipulative little shit,” he grumbled. “I’m here now, so don’t worry about it.”

Eren hugged Levi tighter, nodding. “Don’t go away again,” he whimpered.

“Can’t promise anything, _myshka_. I’m going to have to go away a lot, you’ll just have to try to deal with it.”

“Ugh,” Eren said, collapsing against the man. “Not fair.”

“You think I want to go away or something? I don’t have a choice, so quit whining about it.”

Eren was silent for a few moments before nodding slowly, cuddling closer. “Can we play tea party?”

Levi grimaced, pulling back minutely. “No. No way. I don’t play tea par—”

Eren’s pretty green eyes widened, filling with tears. “Fuck,” the man said quietly, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Fine. But not today.” Eren responded with a nod.

“Okay. Tomorrow.”

“I can’t—not tomorrow.”

Eren started to cry and Levi swore again. “Goddamnit, fine. Tomorrow, whatever.” The smile Eren gave him was almost blinding, and the boy patted Levi on the shoulder.

“You said two bad words, you gotta put money in the jar.”

“I’m not putting goddamn money in your fucking swear jar.”

Eren tutted, shaking his head. “That’s four words.”

“Good job, you can count,” Levi rolled his eyes.

“I’m not a baby! I’m good at counting, and I can add and subtrack, too.”

“Subtract.”

Eren smiled again. “Subtract.”

“Good boy,” Levi praised, ruffling the boy’s hair. “Now get off me, you’re heavy and my leg hurts.”

Eren jumped down from Levi’s lap, patting his knee. “Okay, make me food now.”

“Demanding little shit, aren’t you?”

“Five words!”

“ _Fine_.”

And Levi opened his wallet, dropping some cash into the jar begrudgingly, fixing Eren with a displeased scowl. Eren just grinned. “Good boy,” he said happily, nodding approvingly. “Okay I’ll go play in the living room, I want mac’n’cheese.” Eren turned, walking out of the kitchen, leaving Levi standing in the middle of it in disbelief.

x

Levi _really_ didn’t want to play tea party, but if it was Eren asking – he would do anything. He made his way into the house, having bought some cookies for the tea party, because he was nothing if not an accommodating enabler to Eren’s spoiling. How could anyone not want to see that boy smile? And the tears, the tears were like being stabbed in the heart. So Levi went out of his way to make Eren smile, just because he could.

The closing of the front door and footsteps into the kitchen had Eren squealing from somewhere on the second floor, having heard Levi. He heard the little feet stomping down the stairs as the boy ran over to Levi, nearly tackling the man as he gave him a running-hug. Erwin looked up from his spot at the kitchen table, eyebrow raised. He noticed the bag of cookies in Levi’s hand and narrowed his eyes. He gestured with his hand toward them. “Who said you could bring those?” he questioned.

Levi wrapped one arm around Eren, the older holding the bag of cookies up high. “Don’t worry, Eyebrows, you can have some too.”

“We’re playing tea party!” Eren shouted at Erwin.

“Can I play? Do you think we should take pictures of us all at the tea party?”

Eren’s eyes widened in wonder. “Yes!” he said loudly. “That’s the best idea, Erwin-daddy! You can be the king, okay? I’ll be the prince, and you,” he looked at Levi, narrowing his eyes in thought. “You can be the prince’s servant.”

Erwin snorted in laughter, covering his face with his hand, and Levi heard Hanji’s cackle from somewhere down the hall as she made her way into the room with them. Eren grinned up at her. “Are you gonna play tea party too? You can be the queen!”

“Well, you certainly can’t have a tea party without the queen, so I must accept your invitation!” Hanji responded.

Eren clapped his hands excitedly, smiling up at Levi. “Okay, let me go get everything ready!” he started his way out of the room before doubling back. “Erwin-daddy, I need you to help me set everything up, okay?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. Erwin nodded, standing and following Eren to his room to help set up for the tea party.

Eren opened his door, heading to the center of the room. “We need a table,” he said to Erwin, eyes wide. “Do you have a table?”

“Should we just do this in the living room and use the table there?” Erwin asked. Eren rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“No, the stuffed animals don’t have cars to get to the tea party if it’s downstairs.”

“The—ah, okay. That… makes sense,” Erwin said, patting Eren’s head. “I don’t know if I have a table, but I can get a picnic blanket and we can use pillows for chairs since the floor isn’t soft carpet.”

Eren nodded, patting Erwin’s hand happily. “Good. You’re so smart, I’m glad I asked you and not Levi. Sometimes he’s dumb about these things,” Eren explained, going to his bed to pull off the pillows.

Erwin smiled, moving to the door. “I’ll get the blanket and some more pillows, all right? I’ll be right back.”

Eren nodded, busy setting up what he could. Erwin returned with a larger blanket – not one specifically for a picnic, but it’s not like Eren could tell the difference – and some of the decorative pillows from downstairs. They finished setting the tea party up and Erwin helped Eren pick out which stuffed animals were going to attend the party and where they should sit.

“Froot Loops will be there, obviously,” Eren said, picking her up and setting her down on the pillow that was next to the one he picked out for himself. He turned to the rest of the stuffed animals, some of them presents from Eld and Petra, one of them from Auruo (which was sitting in the corner) – “That one can’t come,” Eren said assertively. “He’s in jail.”

“Jail?” Erwin asked, alarmed. Eren nodded, eyebrows furrowed.

“He was bad and hit Froot Loops so now he’s in jail.”

Erwin nodded slowly. “All right. What about the others?”

Eren picked up two – a pink bunny from Petra and a giraffe beanie baby. “Well Trix is Froot Loops’ best friend—”

“Trix?”

“Yeah, like the cereal,” Eren explained. “The rabbit never gets the Trix in the commercial but I think that’s mean so I named her Trix because that way she gets the cereal.”

“Ah,” Erwin said, pretending he understood, nodding. “So… Trix gets to come, then.”

“Yeah, but I dunno about Cookie Crisp,” Eren said thoughtfully, lifting up the hand with the giraffe in it. Apparently it was named Cookie Crisp because of the brown spots on it (similar to the chocolate chips on the cereal bits). “Cookie Crisp and Froot Loops are friends, but Cookie Crisp and Trix are in a fight because Cookie Crisp told Trix that she didn’t like her bow,” he gestured to the little bowtie around Trix’s neck. “She said it was ‘tacky’ and that it ‘didn’t match her fur’. So we can have Cookie Crisp, but she can’t sit by Trix. Then there’s Captain Crunch,” Eren gestured to the toy alligator. “He and Trix has a crush on each other. So maybe I should put him next to Trix…” he handed Erwin the bunny toy, waving toward the pillows. “Put Trix next to Froot Loops. On the, umm…” Eren turned to face the pillows, holding his hands out in front of him. “The one that makes the L is the left,” he muttered to himself. “Put her on the… the left,” he said, nodding.

“Yes, your majesty,” Erwin said teasingly, setting her down.

“No, you’re the king so you can’t call me your majesty ‘cuz the prince is the king’s son, and that doesn’t make sense. So you can call me ‘Prince Eren’ instead.”

“Yes, Prince Eren,” Erwin corrected, taking Captain Crunch from Eren who was holding it out toward him. He set it next to Trix, as instructed, and watched Eren put Cookie Crisp back.

“She can come next time because next time Trix will have a dentist appointment. Levi says carrots got sugar in ‘em and that’s why I should like them,” Eren explained. “And sugar makes you get cavities, and bunnies eat lots of carrots and don’t brush their teeth so she got some cavities…”

Erwin nodded, stepping back up to stand behind Eren again. He’d have to remember to thank Levi for somehow getting Eren to eat his vegetables. For a man with no experience with kids, Levi was pretty good at handling Eren. Erwin placed his hands on the boy’s shoulder and Eren leaned back against his legs, tapping his chin thoughtfully. He picked up a dragon plush next, looking at it for a moment before tilting his head back, looking at Erwin upside-down.

“Should Ding Dong come?”

“…Ding Dong?”

“Yeah,” he said with a serious nod.

“Ding Dong isn’t a cereal…”

Eren gave Erwin a confused look. “Of course he’s not, he’s a dragon…” he rolled his eyes, holding the toy out to Erwin. “Put him across from Froot Loops.”

Erwin didn’t question Eren’s naming choice again, putting the toy where he was instructed to. “Who is going to sit next to you?” he asked, pointing at the toys.

Eren tutted. “Levi, duh,” he said as if it should be obvious.

“Ah, I should have known…”

Eren picked up a turtle next. “Corn Flakes will come too. He can sit next to you. You’re gonna sit by Levi. I think that’s it. Everyone else is at work,” he said, moving to the door. “Hanji can sit by Ding Dong. You guys!” he yelled out the door. “You can come now, the tea party’s gonna begin soon!”

He turned to look between Erwin and the floor where they would be sitting. “There’s no tea.”

“Do you want me to make tea?”

“No, tea is gross,” Eren said, nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Don’t let Levi hear you say that,” Erwin said with a wink.

“Yeah, I tell him it’s nasty but he keeps drinking it. Maybe that’s why he’s mean to people,” Eren said, blinking as if he reached a genius revelation. “Must be,” he muttered.

“We can drink some apple juice. Oh! Mix it with orange juice,” Eren said, nodding happily. “And milk, so Levi can grow tall,” he finished just as Levi and Hanji entered the room. Levi made a noise, affronted.

“I don’t need milk,” he scoffed.

Eren gave Levi a stern look. “Why’re you so short then?” he asked. “You’re even shorter than Petra, and she’s a girl.”

Levi clenched his jaw, looking up at the ceiling and sighing. “Just… no milk,” he said, finally sitting down on the cushion Eren pointed out.

Eren gave Levi an unimpressed look. “Fine, no milk, but you’ll never get tall that way. Do you wanna be short forever? I’m gonna be taller than you soon and I’m only seven.”

“Don’t remind me,” Levi muttered, giving Eren a dark look.

Eren patted Levi’s head, sitting next to him and leaning against his side. Levi refused to wrap his arm around the boy, withholding affection until Eren turned his head up to widen those pretty doe eyes at him. He patted Eren’s back begrudgingly, finally hugging the boy close.

Erwin entered, setting up the teapot with the juice inside and the mismatched cups in front of everyone. Eren pointed out the one in front of Levi. “That’s the wrong one, that’s not the one Levi always uses,” he said. He pointed at the one in front of Ding Dong. “That one is Levi’s.”

“Didn’t know you paid such close attention, _zaichik_.”

“’fcourse I do. You’re my favorite.”

Erwin exchanged cups, sitting down on the cushion. Eren turned to look at him expectantly. “Oldest has to serve everyone.”

Levi smirked.

“How do you know I’m the oldest?” Erwin asked, raising an eyebrow. “Hanji could be the oldest.”

Eren looked at Hanji, scrutinizing her appearance. “No way. You’re definitely the oldest. You got the wrinkles,” he leaned forward, patting Erwin’s face. “It’s okay, just ask Petra for the cream she uses on her face, they take away the wrinkles.”

Levi grinned wickedly. “Yeah, Erwin, do something about those wrinkles.”

Erwin pouted, picking the teapot up and serving everyone the “tea”. Eren chattered at them about the proper tea party etiquette and his day, and everyone lifted their teacups to their mouth. Levi nearly choked on his, wanting to spit his out. Who knew that the taste of apple juice and orange juice together was so revolting? The others didn’t seem to mind the taste and gave Levi a questioning look.

“It’s fucking gross,” he said, face displaying his disgust.

Eren sniffled, pouting up at Levi. “You don’t like it?” he asked sadly. “You don’t like my tea party…?”

“I—uh…” Levi looked away guiltily. “It’s just not… I don’t…”

Eren sighed, dejected. “I get it. You hate it so much you never want to see me again.” Tears filled his eyes and Levi panicked, quickly drinking the rest of his juice, grimacing as he did so.

“No, of—of course not, I just… needed time…”

Eren’s face quickly transformed into a sunny smile, wiping away the unshed tears with the back of his hand.

“Manipulative imp,” Levi grumbled.

“Levi wants more,” Eren stated, leaning forward to look at Erwin, who gave Levi an amused smirk. Levi’s eyes widened, wondering if Eren was punishing him for his initial refusal.

“Ah, I don’t…” Eren just sniffled and pouted up at Levi again. “Fucking fine.” And he drank the rest of what was given to him, which just happened to be the rest of the entire teapot.

Once finished, Eren chirped a happy “okay, that’s two bad words, go put money in the jar.”

“Are you—really?!” Levi ran a hand through his hair, disheveling it. Eren stood up on his knees and brushed it back into order, patting Levi’s shoulder.

“I don’t lie about that,” Eren said gravely.

So Levi made his way to put money in the jar as directed, and was (of course) stuck with clean-up duty as well, much to Hanji and Erwin’s amusement.

“Why?” Levi grunted, doing his job.

“’Cuz you clean the best,” Eren said, putting the toys back in order, setting Froot Loops on his bed where she belonged.

“Yeah yeah,” Levi muttered. They finished the cleaning job together and Eren gave Levi a grateful hug. The man couldn’t really complain about the tea party or the forced cleaning after a hug from Eren.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably wrong translations and genders of the Russian endearments:
> 
> Myshka: Little mouse  
> Zaichik: Bunny  
> Durachok: Little idiot
> 
> If you speak Russian and these are just incredibly wrong and terrible please let me know because I'm like super srs about this being accurate.


	3. Levi is the Best

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited chapters 1 and 2 but only for grammar and stuff really. There's not much that I can change in order to be more "realistic" without rewriting everything, and fuck that, YOLO.
> 
> Merry Christmas, here's chapter 3.
> 
> Thanks for all the nice comments and encouragement. :)

The new school year was coming up, and Eren was excited. He had done well in first grade, getting mostly A’s (and one B) and was looking forward to second grade. He had even made a friend named Armin. Erwin and the rest of Eren’s new family were glad to see him adjusting so well despite his circumstances, and had thrown him a going-back-to-school party where he got candy and cake and some school supplies (and new clothes). Still, there were some items he needed, so it was up to Erwin to take him to go shopping for new stuff!

And Levi, because Eren refused to go shopping without Levi (much to Levi’s displeasure).

“Why do you want me to come with you?” he groused, following Erwin and Eren into the store reluctantly. Eren just gave him a toothy smile, grabbing his hand and snuggling close.

“Because you’re my favorite,” the boy said with a happy sigh. “And you buy me candy.”

Erwin turned to glare at Levi. “You’re paying for his dental bill from now on,” the man said, irritated. Eren pouted up at Levi.

“You won’t make me go to the nasty dentist, will you?” he whined, sounding betrayed.

“I’ll do whatever Erwin tells me to do otherwise I’ll be docked pay,” Levi muttered, flipping Erwin off while Eren wasn’t looking. Erwin sighed heavily, leading them in the direction of school supplies.

“I was prepared to raise Eren, but having to take care of _two_ children is asking too much,” Erwin said, shooting Levi a look.

“Hey!” Levi responded. “I resent that remark.”

Eren nodded, agreeing with Levi. “Yeah, Erwin-daddy! Levi’s not a little kid,” he stated with confidence. “He’s a big boy, he’s at _least_ 13.”

Erwin gave Levi a triumphant smirk. “You’re right. Levi’s more like a fourteen-year-old.”

Levi just glared, huffing and looking away. Eren had turned his attention back to Levi, eyes wide. “You’re fourteen?!” he questioned in awe. “You’re _old_!”

“I’m not fourteen! I’m 21,” Levi corrected, glaring down at the boy.

“Not much difference,” Erwin stated, pulling the cart into the aisle with the notebooks and other stationery. Eren skipped over to the display of superhero themed school supplies, picking up a Captain America folder.

“Look, daddy, it’s you!” Eren shouted excitedly. Erwin laughed, petting Eren’s hair.

“So it is. Do you want that one?”

Eren nodded, handing it to Erwin to place in the cart. “Now I need a Levi one,” Eren said, mostly to himself, hunting through the folders. Levi just raised an eyebrow, stepping closer to watch what Eren was doing.

“There aren’t any superheroes that look like m—”

Eren whipped out a Loki-themed one, grinning triumphantly. “Here!” he said loudly, shoving it at Levi. “It’s you!”

Erwin bit his lip to hold in his laughter as Levi looked down at the folder, not sure if he should be offended or take it as a compliment. “I don’t look anything like this, kid,” he settled on saying. Eren shook his head, taking the folder and holding it out to inspect it.

“No, he’s got the same colored hair,” Eren pointed first to Levi’s hair, then to Loki’s hair on the folder. “And he’s got the same look on his face. The one you get right before you give me a cookie that I’m not supposed to have.”

Levi gave Erwin a nervous look, covering Eren’s mouth with his hand. “I told you not to talk about that, kid,” he hissed. Eren giggled and, like a seven-year-old, licked Levi’s hand. Levi yanked his hand back, wiping it on his jeans, making a face. “Fucking disgusting,” he growled. Levi took a step back, looking around the store. They had to have some sanitizer _somewhere_. Erwin held out a hand, having pulled a small bottle of sanitizer (from where, Levi didn’t know; Erwin was like a mom basically, always had everything on hand). Levi grabbed it, used it, and returned it to the older man. He turned back to Eren, who was still grinning, laughter hidden behind the Loki folder he was still holding.

“You don’t lick people, idiot, you could get sick, and who knows what nasty things they’ve been touching?” Levi scolded, pointing his finger at the boy. Eren pulled the folder away suddenly and jumped forward, pretending to bite at Levi’s finger. Levi pulled his hand away quickly, stumbling backwards, eyes wide. “Don’t do that!”

Eren smiled and shrugged, ignoring Levi and turning to hand Erwin the folder. “Okay, now I gotta get one for everyone else.”

“You only need six, Eren. Four more and that’s it.” Eren gave Erwin a sad look, widening his eyes like he always did when he was trying to get something he wanted. Erwin shook his head sternly. “I’m serious, Eren. Only four more.”

The boy huffed a sigh and turned back to the folder display. A Bruce Banner/Incredible Hulk one representing Hanji—Levi had questioned why Hanji was the Hulk and Eren just raised an eyebrow and looked at him like he was stupid. “Because _science_ ,” he had responded, shaking his head. Eren picked up an Iron Man one next, looking at it and back up at Levi, and back down to the folder. “This is Levi too,” he decided, handing it to Erwin.

Levi shrugged. “Better than being Loki.”

Thor for Eld, and Black Widow for Petra, and that was it for folders. Notebooks went a similar direction, though there weren’t enough different types of superhero notebooks to pick so he just chose colors. He was shuffling through them, trying to figure out which colors went for which people, holding one up and looking over at Erwin or Levi before putting it back. Levi made a face. “You’re taking too long, just grab some.”

“No!” Eren said firmly. “I need to pick carefully!” he insisted. He held up the grey one, looking over at Levi. He squinted his eyes, stepping closer. “This one is like your eyes, so this one can be for you.”

Erwin took it and put it in the cart, and Eren picked out a bright blue one to represent Erwin, an orange one to represent Petra, a black one to represent Levi, “Why another for me?” Levi had asked, confused.

“Because you’re my favorite, _duh_ ,” Eren said sassily, rolling his eyes like he had seen Levi do many times. Erwin just laughed, watching Eren pick out notebooks with a smile on his face. He turned to Levi, gesturing to Eren.

“Admit it, you think it’s cute. Him constantly telling everyone you’re his _favorite_.”

“Never,” Levi said with a straight face. “It’s annoying and he’s annoying.”

“You mean adorable!” Eren chirped, settling on yellow for Hanji, and then frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t know who to get the sixth one for.”

Levi pointed out a jade-colored one sitting near Eren. “That one.”

Eren picked it up, turning to give Levi a curious look. “But why?”

“Your eyes,” Levi said with a shrug. “It matches your eyes. You should have one representing you, don’t you think?”

Eren gave it a few moments’ thought before agreeing. Levi was quite wise, after all. Folders and notebooks picked out, it was easy to gather the rest of the school supplies—it was more than Levi thought a kid needed, but the list the school had given out claimed all of it was _necessary_. He wondered idly what his life would have been like with superhero folders and a family he cared enough about to pick out notebook colors representing them. Again, he thought about how glad he was that he had accidentally kicked Eren in the side. It was nice to see the boy smile instead of cry, and to see his skin without bruises. Or, without so many bruises. He was still a boy and thus played rough and got bruises, but at least these weren’t due to abuse. As they walked to the clothing area, Eren chattering on to Erwin and Levi about something that had happened with the neighbor’s dog (or something, Levi wasn’t really listening), the man reached out and ran fingers through Eren’s hair gently. Okay, so Levi had to admit, Eren was cute as hell. But he’d only admit it to himself. Never out loud. Especially not to Erwin. Maybe he’d tell Eren. But definitely nobody else.

Eren hummed happily at the affection, walking closer to Levi and grabbing his hand, holding on and swinging their intertwined hands between them, continuing his story, which had somehow become something about squirrels and bird feeders. Levi just squeezed Eren’s hand gently, giving Erwin a venomous glare when the older man smirked at him.

x

It was mid-October, the weather growing chillier each day. Levi had purchased Eren a new coat the day before, because “your coat is too fucking thin, Erwin is an idiot for letting you outside in that” (he had to put more money in the swear jar, of course), but Eren _loved_ his new coat. It was grey, which Eren had decided was his new favorite color (“That’s depressing, Eren,” had been Levi’s response, but Eren just smiled and insisted that it was the best color because “it matches your eyes, Levi”). It even had some faux fur lining the hood, was warm and comfy and squishy, and Eren had to be forced not to wear it all the time.

“It’s for outside, Eren.”

“But _daddy_ , Levi gave it to me!” the boy had whined.

“Yes, to wear _outside_.”

Even Eren’s crocodile tears and puppy-dog eyes hadn’t swayed Erwin, so the boy accepted the fact that it was only for outside, which just meant Eren wanted to go outside more often. It got to the point where Erwin ordered Levi to buy more clothes for Eren— _indoor_ clothes this time—so that they could finally have peace in the house.

Levi procrastinated, just to punish Erwin, but eventually came through with some new socks (dinosaurs), one of his old shirts to wear as pyjamas (Eren’s favorite, the faded one with the triangle and the rainbow that he always asked Levi to wear), and a small shirt meant for cats (for Froot Loops). Eren had been thrilled, putting the cat shirt on Froot Loops right away and then hugging Levi and refusing to let him go for at least thirty minutes.

A few days after Levi had brought Eren his gifts, he was sitting in the living room working on something on his laptop when Eren burst through the door, back from school.

“Levi!” he yelled, because the man was around nearly every day anyway – to the point where Erwin kept jokingly asking him when he was moving in.

Levi raised a hand to wave at the boy, who skidded around the couch and jumped onto it, latching onto Levi’s legs. The man grunted, closing his laptop and setting it to the side for its own safety. “Eren, shoes,” he said, flicking the boy in the forehead. Eren sat up, pulled off his shoes, and tossed them over the couch.

Levi raised both his eyebrows, glancing over the couch at Erwin (who had come in after Eren). Before he (or Erwin) could say anything, Eren unzipped his backpack excitedly. “I have something for you! For you both! Well, it’s not for _you_ , but it’s _for_ you, you know,” he said, waving his hand as if that somehow explained everything. Erwin sighed and cleaned up the shoes, circling the couch to stand in front of it. Levi shifted to the side, making room for Eren to scoot over so Erwin could sit down on the other side of the boy.

Eren pulled out one of his folders – his Captain America one – and from it extracted two pieces of paper. The boy took a moment to look up at the two men, smiling at each in turn, and held out the first paper. The top of it said ‘my family’ and instructions for the children to draw their families. Levi and Erwin moved closer to see what Eren had drawn. Some clouds and two smiling faces in the sky – “Those are mom and papa,” he explained, tapping the paper. “In heaven.” There was a house off to the side, “That’s where we live,” and another house on the other side “and that’s where Levi lives.” It looked more like some sort of evil villain hideout than a house.

“How is that my house?” Levi asked, incredulous. “It doesn’t look anything like my house. You’ve never even seen my house.”

“It’s the type of place you should live in,” Eren had explained offhandedly, pointing out the smallest figure. “That’s me,” he explained, and then moving his finger to tap the tallest one, with yellow hair and blue eyes and holding a Captain America shield. “This one’s daddy.” The depiction of Erwin was holding Eren’s hand, and Eren pointed out the other members of his ‘family’ – Hanji, Petra, Eld, Gunther – “Why’s he a penguin?” Levi asked, confused. “Adventure Time,” Erwin answered, before Eren moved on – Auruo was apparently a dog, situated in the very corner, in a cage. “He’s in time-out, because he’s annoying like the neighbor’s dog,” was Eren’s very logical justification. And finally – Levi – holding Eren’s other hand, with his trademark frown and furrowed eyebrows. Eren had drawn a heart around the three of them – Levi, Eren, and Erwin – and one around his mom and dad in the sky.

“I still miss mom and papa,” Eren said quietly, tracing a finger over the crudely drawn approximations of them. “But I have Erwin-daddy and Levi to take care of me now.” The boy paused for a moment, cocking his head to the side. “Do you think they would be upset if I love you guys as much as I love them?” he questioned.

Levi ran his fingers through Eren’s soft hair, giving him an uncharacteristically tender smile. “Nah, I’m sure they’d be fine. They want you to be happy, and that makes you happy, right?”

Eren nodded, smiling up at Levi and then moving to hug Erwin around the middle. “If mom and papa could be here, it’d be the best,” he said with a happy sigh. “I’d have mom and papa and Erwin-daddy and Levi and everyone else, and it’d be the best. But I’m okay if I just have you two right now,” the boy said with a smile, closing his eyes as he cuddled up to Erwin.

“What’s the second picture?” Levi asked, tapping it. Eren perked up, putting the ‘my family’ one aside (Erwin picked it up for safe-keeping; he’d put it on the fridge for now until he found a suitable frame for it), and pulling out what appeared to be a math quiz. “Look!” he said, pointing to the top right. There was a big red “100” with a circle around it. “I got a perfect score!” he said excitedly, sitting up on his knees and turning to look at Levi. He grinned wide. “It’s because of you!” he asserted, pointing to the section on fractions. “You helped me with these last time, remember? I got a 100 because of you!” he said happily, throwing his arms around Levi and hugging him tight. “Pretty soon I’ll be as smart as you.”

Levi wrapped an arm around Eren, laughing quietly. “Doubt it, kid. I’m pretty smart. It’ll take you a long time to catch up to me.”

Erwin smiled at the display, a little jealous of the affection Eren showed Levi but at the same time glad that they shared such a close relationship. It was good for both Levi and Eren – Levi who was a loner by nature, and Eren who was such a sensitive boy with so much love to give; Levi could help Eren navigate the waters of dealing with loss at such a young age better than anyone else Erwin knew, and Eren could be the light that Levi needed in his life sometimes.

“Don’t worry,” Eren answered Levi, face shoved into the man’s shirt and voice muffled, “I’ll catch up eventually. Maybe I’ll be even smarter.”

“Probably,” Erwin said matter-of-factly, standing with both the quiz and the drawing in his hand, walking to the fridge to put them up on display.

Levi frowned, watching Erwin walk away. “No way,” he retorted. “Never.”

Eren sighed and pushed at Levi until the man was reclining against the side of the couch so the boy could climb on top of him for a nap. Levi made a noise of protest, “What are you doing, kid? I’ve got work to do.”

“Mmm, no,” Eren mumbled, burying his face in Levi’s neck. “’s nap time.”

Erwin laughed. “Eren, maybe you should go take a nap in your bed instead.”

The boy gave Erwin a cranky look. “The bed is cold,” he whined. “Levi is warm, like the oven. Levi-oven.”

“Don’t give me stupid nicknames,” the man grumbled, wrapping an arm around Eren. “How am I going to do my work with you here? You’re like a damn cat.”

Eren snuffled, squirming to get more comfortable. “Tha’s one more money in the money jar,” he murmured, sentence interrupted by a yawn. “Now go to bed. Ni-night, Levi.”

Levi gave Erwin an irritated look and Erwin just smiled, handing Levi the remote to the TV. “I’ll finish the paperwork, you be my babysitter. I know you’d rather be a bed than actually do your job anyway.”

“Rude,” Levi muttered, clicking on the TV. “Go away then, do my paperwork,” he waved his hand at Erwin, who grabbed Levi’s laptop and took it into his office to do said paperwork.

Levi spent the next hour watching TV while Eren slept, and then made the small family dinner once Erwin finished the paperwork and Eren woke up and washed up.

 


	4. The Family Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren finds out what his adoptive family does for a living. It doesn't go so well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im in haikyuu and yoi hell, but i didnt forget about y'all.

It was midnight and Eren was awoken by a series of bangs and loud swearing. It kind of sounded like somebody had dropped a bunch of books on the ground and then knocked over the fridge. He crept out of his room to look out from the stairs, where he could see into the kitchen and living room. One of the small lamps was on in the living room and Erwin stood to the side, wearing a… suit? Eren wondered why, because he had seen Erwin last wearing pajamas… then he saw Levi, kicking at something on the floor and tossing a briefcase toward Erwin. Petra was there too… and Hanji. Eren was confused; why was everyone here when it was so late? He sat down, settling in to watch what was going on.

Hanji leaned against the kitchen island, waving to something on the ground. “Is there a reason you brought all of these in here?” she asked. Their voices were quiet, but because of the high ceilings the sound carried. Well, that and Hanji’s voice was just naturally louder than normal despite trying to be quiet.

Erwin frowned, using his foot to push at whatever Hanji must have been looking at, holding the briefcase in one hand. Petra gave Levi a concerned look, who ran a hand through his (already disheveled) hair. Unlike Hanji and Erwin, Levi was good at being quiet, and so Eren only caught a word here or there.

“…compromised, there… a bug… hurt,” Levi pointed to his leg, but Eren couldn’t see anything – his view was obscured by the couch. Petra made a noise of concern, moving forward and kneeling down to look at whatever Levi had pointed to on his leg.

“Should we take you to the hospital?” Erwin asked, frowning. Levi shook his head, pointing to the briefcase. He said something about Petra… fixing his leg? Was Levi hurt? Eren scooted closer to the landing, wishing he could get closer to hear everything going on.

“Are you sure, Levi? We did a sweep last night and there was nothing…”

“Then how did they know I was there?!” Levi questioned, voice louder than before, laced with irritation. “It was supposed to be a quick in-and-out, grab the stuff, leave, bam, done,” Levi hissed. “No – guards and dogs. You know how I feel about dogs. And you’re just gonna hold that briefcase, not look inside? You know, the thing I got _shot for_?” Levi’s voice was growing in volume before Hanji (of all people) hushed him.

“Eren’s asleep,” she whispered, or as close to a whisper as Hanji could get, and Eren thought he heard Levi swear. He nodded, and let Petra lead him over to a chair to sit down on.

Petra was speaking next – and she was just as quiet as Levi. “Can… first aid…?” she was pointing at the door to the office, the one Eren wasn’t allowed in, and Erwin sat the briefcase down, entering it and hurrying out with a box in his hands. He shut the door behind him with a click and Eren watched as Hanji turned the kitchen light on. Eren was confused – Levi was wearing all black, nothing out of the ordinary, but his leg looked all… wet? Like he had stepped in a big puddle, and he had an owie on his arm… his eyes widened as he saw Petra cut away the cloth on Levi’s leg. It wasn’t _water_ , Levi’s leg was wet with _blood_.

Eren must have made a noise or something because everyone’s heads snapped to where the boy was sitting.

“Aw, fuck,” Levi said, burying his head in his hands. Hanji and Petra both looked unsure of what to do and Erwin sighed, heading toward Eren.

“Eren, you’re supposed to be in bed,” he said as he climbed the stairs. He sounded displeased, and the boy winced when Erwin got close. He shrunk in on himself, looking up at the man.

“S-s-sorry, it was loud,” he whined. “Please don’t hurt me,” he hiccupped.

Erwin froze, looking confused, before remembering Eren’s… unfortunate situation before his adoption. That’s right, Eren hadn’t really done anything worthy of any serious reprimanding since arriving. The boy was used to that sort of thing being met with violence. The man sighed, crouching down near Eren. “No, _kotik_ , you’re not in trouble,” he said quietly. “Even if you were, nobody’s going to hurt you, okay?” Eren took a moment to eye Erwin before crawling over to him, hugging the man. Erwin sat, pulling Eren into his arms and lap. “It’s okay, _malysh_ , we just didn’t want you to have to see things like that. It’s adult stuff – kids don’t need to see that kind of thing, we don’t want you to get scared or have nightmares.”

Eren snuggled close, eyes closed. “’m a big boy, not gonna get scared… is Levi gonna be okay?”

“He’ll be fine,” Erwin reassured the boy, rubbing his back. “He’s just got a big owie, but Petra will take care of him.”

“But I heard maybe he should go to the hos… hosp’l?”

“Hospital,” Erwin corrected gently. “He doesn’t need to go there, he’ll be fine.”

“But he got shot…”

“Ah, you heard that?” the blond man leaned against the wall, letting out a long sigh. He really hadn’t wanted Eren to see any of this for… a long time. Maybe never. But Erwin supposed it would happen sooner or later. Still, seven was very young. The man stroked the boy’s hair as he thought of what to say. “Levi and I… Petra, Hanji, everyone… we have a job that’s, ahh…” Erwin frowned, looking down at Eren’s expressive eyes. “It’s a bit dangerous.”

Eren’s eyes started filling with tears. “I d-don’t want you to die too,” he wailed.

Fuck. That’s exactly why Erwin didn’t want Eren to find out yet. “We’re not going to die, sweetie. Just… we might get hurt sometimes.” It wasn’t necessarily true, but the boy didn’t need to know everything yet. Eren clung to Erwin, squeezing him in a tight hug, breath hitching as he tried to calm himself down.

“I c-c-can’t…” Eren sniffled, burying his face in Erwin’s neck. “If you d-die I…” he couldn’t bring himself to finish, tears coming quick and streaming down his face. The man let his head rest against the wall behind him, petting Eren’s back soothingly. He really wasn’t sure what to say to calm the boy down. Whispering ‘it’s okay’ and ‘we’ll be fine’ into Eren’s ears didn’t seem to be working, so Erwin shifted so he could look down into the kitchen. Together, Hanji and Petra had managed to fix Levi’s wound up – he was lucky that it was a clean shot through, no bullet lodged somewhere deep and nothing important severed. Still, he’d be out of commission for a while as he healed. Erwin stood, holding Eren in his arms, heading down the stairs. Levi had been cleaned up and was throwing back some painkillers when Erwin entered the kitchen with the sobbing boy.

Levi looked over at the pair, concerned. “He won’t calm down,” Erwin explained. Levi pursed his lips, holding out his hands. Erwin helped transfer Eren to Levi’s lap safely, making sure not to jostle Levi’s injured leg. The boy clung tight to Levi now, crying into his chest, wailing that he didn’t want Levi to die, and that he needed Levi and Erwin, and he couldn’t live without them, and Levi sighed loudly, flicking Eren in the forehead. Eren reeled back, giving Levi a hurt look.

“Not gonna die, _kotik_ , quit whining,” Levi mumbled, leaning back in the chair. His leg hurt so fucking bad, he wished they had some narcotics or some shit. Some goddamn Advil wasn’t going to be enough. The dark-haired man looked up at Erwin. “You got anything that’ll knock me out?” he grumbled. “This hurts like a bitch.”

Eren buried his face in Levi’s neck, still crying, though he kept his pleas for Levi not to die to himself.

Erwin shook his head. “We’ve got Benadryl and cold medicine…?”

Hanji blinked over at Levi. “Don’t you still have that Xanax?”

Levi frowned, giving Hanji a confused look. “What? How’s that going to…?”

“It always knocks you out,” she said with a shrug, standing. Levi opened his mouth to argue but then frowned, sitting back. It was true. He threw his keys at Hanji.

“Medicine cabinet in the bathroom, top shelf,” he responded and she grinned, giving the man a jaunty salute as she made her way out of the house.

“See you soon!”

The three remaining adults turned their attention back to Eren, whose little sobs had quieted down. Petra leaned forward to brush some of Eren’s hair back. “Sweetheart, we really aren’t going anywhere. We didn’t want you to know about this because we knew it’d be scary for you, and see? It is. But we’ll be okay, and you’ll be okay,” she said sweetly. Eren looked up at her with a miserable expression.

“If Levi dies I’ll die,” he said morosely. He paused for a moment. “If Erwin dies I’ll die too,” Eren added.

Erwin and Levi shared a look.

“ _What do we do?_ ” Levi asked, suddenly speaking another language. Eren looked up at him, confused.

“ _I don’t know, how do you explain to a kid you’re in the mafia and not to worry? It’s not really a normal situation_ ,” was Erwin’s response, in the same language as Levi.

Petra noticed Eren’s look and crouched down, smiling at him. “It’s Russian,” she said quietly. “I have no idea what they’re saying either.”

Levi flopped back in his chair. “Tch _, why do we have to tell him anything about that?_ ”

“ _You know he’s going to ask what our job is and why it’s dangerous._ ”

“ _So you just wanna say, ‘hey_ Eren _, we’re bad guys’?_ ”

Eren perked up, hearing his name, looking at Levi curiously, eyes red and puffy from tears, some still clinging to his lashes. Levi glanced down at the boy, wrapping an arm around him and hugging him close in an attempt to reassure him.

“ _Of course not,_ Levi _, but we need to say something – he’s seen too much and he knows too much right now not to have things explained to him. You’ve got the_ FBI _on your tail, you just botched a—_ _”_

“ _Excuse_ me?” Levi asked incredulously, switching back to English in his frustration. “ _I_ botched it? It was _your_ intel that—”

“Boys!” Petra chided.

Levi made a frustrated noise, switching back to Russian. “ _The mission went bad, whatever, we got the shit but we got caught, don’t put this on me. What are we gonna tell the kid? My leg hurts too fucking much, just tell him we’re gangsters and kill people and steal shit, I don’t know, figure it out_.”

Erwin frowned at Levi. “ _You want me to say, ‘hey_ Eren _, we’re gangsters and_ Levi _just shot somebody in the head and stole important documents and 2 million dollars tonight’?_ ”

“Fuck no, just—” Levi turned to Eren and opened his mouth. Erwin knew what was about to happen and tried to stop it but— “Eren we’re in a gang and I shot someone tonight.”

“ _Levi!_ ” Erwin shouted. Petra gave Levi a horrified look, and Eren’s eyes widened.

“I thought you didn’t want me to tell him that part, but you go ahead and say it?! He doesn’t need to hear about that!”

Eren curled up against Levi’s chest, looking upset. They were yelling so _loud_ and it hurt his ears. He started crying again and it was Petra who noticed, distressed. “Now he’s upset,” she said. Erwin pointed at Levi, “It’s because you—”

“You crying ‘cuz you’re scared of me or something?” Levi asked Eren, voice short. He just wanted to fucking pass out.

Eren shook his head, sniffling. “Stop yelling,” he wailed. “I don’t want my fam’ly to yell at each other!”

Levi dropped his head back, closing his eyes, free hand moving to rub at his temples while the other arm was still wrapped around Eren. Everyone quieted down, taking a few moments to gather themselves.

Erwin spoke next, turning to Eren. “Levi shouldn’t have said that,” he said evenly. “You didn’t—you don’t need to know that. We just…”

“You’re bad guys,” Eren said flatly, staring at Erwin. Erwin winced and Levi just closed his eyes, covering his face with his free hand. Petra shifted anxiously when Eren turned his attention on her. “Are you a bad guy too?”

“Well, I… well…” she bit her lip, nervous. “Well, yes, I—I suppose.”

Eren pursed his lips in thought, looking down at the floor. “Why?” he questioned, looking back up at the adults.

“What?” Levi asked, confused.

“Why are you bad guys? Why not be good guys?”

“Ah, well…” Erwin frowned. “Sometimes… the good guys are the bad guys…” he started. How else do you explain a corrupt police force and navigating the complicated world of organized crime? “What I mean is…”

Levi groaned. “Being too complicated,” he mumbled. “Okay, it’s like this, _myshka_ ,” he said, pain removing his ability to sugarcoat things. “There’s people who steal little kids like you, and girls, and make them do bad stuff. Then there’s cops who arrest people who don’t deserve it. Then there’s groups of people killing other groups for money. People doing lots of bad stuff for many reasons. Some of the cops are involved in that – you understand?”

“..,the cops are the bad guys?”

“Some of them. Not all. But enough that you can’t trust them,” Levi pointed a finger at Eren, wincing as the boy shifted. He tugged him closer. “Don’t—just sit still, hurts when you move,” he grunted. Eren nodded, eyes wide, listening to Levi. “So if the cops aren’t gonna stop people from stealing little kids – who is gonna do that?”

Eren frowned as he thought about it. “Is that what you do?” he questioned, cocking his head.

“Sometimes. The thing is – not everything is black or white, right or wrong, there’s… you know, how there’s grey, and dark grey, and whatever?”

Eren nodded slowly.

“If black is wrong and white is right, what’s grey?”

Eren opened his mouth to answer, and paused. “It’s…” he frowned suddenly. “Um…”

“It’s complicated. Sometimes you have to do bad stuff to stop worse stuff from happening. People don’t like it when you do that. They think you can just—just leave everything to the police or whatever, they’ll solve it doing things the _right_ way, but kid, the _real_ bad guys don’t play by the rules. So you gotta make up your own rules.”

Eren blinked up at Levi, not sure if he understood. “So… so you’re the bad guys… but not the _bad_ guys…? You’re the… the good bad guys?”

“Basically,” Levi grunted.

Erwin and Petra watched the exchange with interest. “Do you understand now, Eren?” the blond asked. “It can be dangerous, and people can get hurt, but we’re really good at our jobs.”

Eren sighed, relaxing against Levi. “I guess,” he mumbled. “You’re saved me from real bad guys so… so I don’t care if you’re bad guys too. You’re different from those ones,” the boy said, playing with the hem of Levi’s shirt.

“Good. Now get the hell off me,” Levi grunted. “My leg hurts like a bitch,” he pushed at Eren, Petra helping the boy off Levi’s lap. Eren leaned back in to hug Levi around the neck, nuzzling him.

They all looked up as heavy footsteps led up to the front door, Hanji bursting through. “Got your meds, cranky!” she said cheerily, walking over to the group and handing Levi one of the pills from the bottle. He looked at it dubiously.

“What’s the dosage?”

“0.5mg.”

“That’s it?”

Hanji gave Levi a stern look. “Levi. You’re 5’2. 0.5mg is more than enough.”

He clenched his jaw and grabbed the pill, swallowing it dry. He looked over at the stairs, forcing himself to stand. “Climbing those is gonna be a bitch,” he grumbled, starting his way to hobble over. “I hope your guest room is clean, Erwin,” he called. Eren blinked after him.

“Now it’s time for _you_ to go to bed,” Erwin said, picking Eren up easily. Eren pouted.

“But I’m not tired,” he whined.

“I’ll read you a book, how about that?” Hanji offered, Eren quickly acquiescing.

“Can we do the one about Max and the monsters?”

“Sure thing, kiddo.”

Hanji and Erwin tucked Eren in, Hanji pulling out _Where the Wild Things Are_ and making sure to do all the voices just right until Eren fell asleep.

xxx

And that’s how I was introduced to the family business. I didn’t really understand it then, and everyone made sure to be more careful about me seeing things I shouldn’t see, but I got my taste of how serious the situation relatively soon after the Levi-gets-shot-in-the-leg incident. Good thing Levi is a blunt, cranky troll and managed to teach me a few things about the police…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm pretty sure children don't develop that level of abstract reasoning at his age but... let's um... pretend they do. *thumbs up*

**Author's Note:**

> mangotangerine.tumblr.com
> 
> hit me up


End file.
